Scottish fishing industry tells First Minister to help them recruit more fishermen

There are plenty of challenges facing John Swinney as he takes up the post of First Minister – the economy, the costof-living crisis, the NHS.

But in coastal and island communities across Scotland, people are hoping his new government can transform the fishing industry.

Ever since Brexit, recruiting enough fishermen to sustain the Scottish fishing fleet has been challenging. For a long time the industry has relied on a huge number of fishermen coming to Scotland from overseas.

However, Brexit rule changes now mean they need a skilled workers’ visa to do this – which has a very high English language requirement, something very few overseas fishermen are able to meet.

For years the industry has been calling for fishermen to get a language exemption for these visas, calling the requirements “disproportionate”, but so far that has not happened. On top of this, the minimum salary threshold for this visa also rose from £26,200 to £38,700 last month.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation now say the newlook Scottish Government needs to do more to attract Scots to become fishermen instead, so the industry doesn’t have to rely so much on overseas recruitment.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the federation, said: “The workforce is still a challenge for the industry, both at sea and processing onshore.

“We are making some progress, but it is difficult and that is likely to continue unless there is a change of focus on how we source labour.

“We need to look at how we can create more interest in the fishing industry from the domestic workforce, and that all depends on it being seen as an industry with a positive future and not one being attacked.”

Ms Macdonald says recent government interventions have badly damaged the industry’s image, which she believes is one of the reasons why fewer Scots are aspiring to become fishermen.

But she now hopes Mr Swinney and his rural affairs secretary can work with the industry to make it an attractive place to work.